Secret of Mana Original Soundtrack
Secret of Mana Original Soundtrack is a soundtrack album of music from Secret of Mana, released as Seiken Densetsu 2 Original Sound Version in Japan; the releases are identical aside from the packaging and localized English song titles. Background Secret of Mana was one of the first soundtrack releases in North America for the North American version of a game. The soundtrack was composed by Hiroki Kikuta. The soundtrack's music covers both "ominous" and "light-hearted" tracks, and is noted for its use of bells and "dark, solemn pianos". The title track to the game, "Fear of the Heavens", was designed by Kikuta to sync up with the title screen as it slowly faded in due to hardware limitations; at the time trying to match the audio and visual effects in a game was rare. Kikuta also started the track off with a "whale noise", rather than a traditional "ping", in order to try to "more deeply connect" the player with the game from the moment it started up; getting the sound to work with the memory limitations of the Super Nintendo system was a difficult technical challenge. The album covers 44 tracks and has a duration of 1:06:01. It was published by NTT Publishing/Square on August 6, 1993 with the catalog number N25D-019, and reprinted by NTT Publishing on August 25, 1995 and October 1, 2004 with the catalog numbers PSCN-5030 and NTCP-5030. Reviews The album was well received by reviewers such as Eve C. of RPGFan, who called it "a beautifully composed CD" and said that it was one of the best soundtracks of any Super Nintendo game. She said that the largest complaint with the album was the synthetic quality of the music necessitated by the Super Nintendo's sound hardware, though she noted that the music pushed the limits of the system's hardware further than any other SNES game. Jason Walton of RPGFan agreed, saying that "the music is composed extremely well, full of variety", though he did not like that the tracks were kept short instead of looping in order to fit all of the songs on one disc. Damian Thomas, in his review of the North American version of the album, also noted that the music was impressive for a SNES game, and recommended the album as worth hunting for. Gamasutra, in an interview with Kikuta, described the music of Secret of Mana as leaving "a lasting impression on international audiences". IGN named the title track as the seventh best RPG title track in a 2006 feature, calling it "soft" and "magical", and saying that Kikuta "uses a mix of upbeat pipes and tinkering piano keys to bring the world of Mana to life". Tracklist No. English Title -> Japanese title -> Length *1. "Angel's Fear" 天使の怖れ 1:42 *2. "A Curious Tale" 不思議なお話を 1:30 *3. "Rose and Spirit" 薔薇と精霊 1:27 *4. "Always Together" いつもいっしょ 1:09 *5. "Kind Memories" やさしい思いで 1:01 *6. "The Boy Heads for the Wilderness" 少年は荒野をめざす 1:56 *7. "Summer Sky Blue" 夏の空色 1:24 *8. "Dancing Beasts" 踊るけものたち 1:19 *9. "Distant Thunder" 遠雷 1:49 *10. "The Child of the Fairy Tribe" 妖精族の子供 0:51 *11. "Occurrence of a Moonlit Night" 月夜の出来事 0:47 *12. "Heart of Darkness" 闇の奥 1:04 *13. "The Holy Invasion" 聖なる侵入 0:59 *14. "Secret of the Hot Sands" 熱砂の秘密 1:11 *15. "What the Forest Taught Me" 森が教えてくれたこと 1:03 *16. "A Wish" ねがい 1:03 *17. "Soul of the Night" 夜の魂 1:47 *18. "Did You See the Sea?" 君は海を見たか 2:09 *19. "Crisis" 危機 2:12 *20. "Orphans of the Storm" 嵐の孤児 2:03 *21. "Where the Wind Ends" 風の焉るところ 1:13 *22. "Flight into the Unknown" 未知への飛行 1:30 *23. "Eternal Recurrence" 永却回帰 2:12 *24. "The Legend" 伝説 1:43 *25. "The Eight Strokes of the Bell" 八点鐘 1:00 *26. "A Strange Incident" 奇妙な事件 1:06 *27. "The King of the Coast" 海辺の王様 1:37 *28. "The Dark Star" 暗黒星 1:33 *29. "Premonition" 予感 1:12 *30. "Steel and Traps" 鋼鉄と罠 1:43 *31. "Prayer and Whisper" 祈りと囁き 1:10 *32. "Ceremony" 儀式 1:27 *33. "Reaching Tomorrow" 明日にとどく 1:06 *34. "Time Enough for Love" 愛に時間を 1:26 *35. "Pure Night" 浄夜 2:50 *36. "The Curse" たたり 1:20 *37. "The Sorcerer" 呪術師 1:48 *38. "A Conclusion" ある結末 1:08 *39. "I Won't Forget You" 君を忘れない 1:11 *40. "This One is Hope" そのひとつは希望 1:08 *41. "Meridian Festival" 子午線の祀り 2:19 *42. "Wings Flapping No Longer" 翼はもうはばたかない 2:01 *43. "The Penultimate Truth" 最後から2番目の真実 2:47 *44. "I Closed My Eyes" ひとみを閉じて 0:32 Category:Secret of Mana Category:Secret of Mana Music Category:Music